


Coming Home

by MissSparklingWriter



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29062002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissSparklingWriter/pseuds/MissSparklingWriter
Summary: Rose returns to her universe amid death and chaos. When the Doctor finds her again, Rose is haunted by what happened on the parallel world and what could happen on this one? Together with the Doctor and their friends, can they stop the Reality Bomb from taking out all other universes?
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato, Rhys Williams/Gwen Cooper, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	1. Some goodbyes are forever

“The sky’s turning red,” Mickey declared grimly. 

True enough, a scarlet glow was rising on the horizon and began to fill the laboratory with its threatening light turning technology around the room red. Meanwhile numerous video screens began to crackle grey with lack of feeds before turning completely black. Bits of salvaged alien technology sat abandoned around the room. 

The Torchwood members were moving towards the giant windows giving them a bird’s eye view of London and the growing crimson menace approaching it. The windows did nothing to muffle the mass screams from the streets near them. Car horns blared, people swore at each other or cried for help. Every so often, a screamed prayer could be heard. Fights were breaking out and the sound of crying carried up just as strongly. 

“There’s nothing we can do for them,” Rose whispered behind her clasped hands. “There’s nothing we can do for anyone.” Her insides seemed to curl into themselves. 

“We didn’t see this coming,” Jake growled next to her. “We couldn’t have seen this coming. It came out of nowhere.”

“Nothing comes out of nowhere,” Pete murmured. He sat perched on a lab bench, looking away from the window and down at his phone screen instead. 

“Oh god,” Jackie’s voice wailed over the call. “We’re all going to die.” Her sobs echoed the cries of the people down in the street. 

“Try not to think of it, Jacks,” Pete said consolingly. “From the looks of things, it’s going to be over quick.”

“France is gone, sir,” one of the female technicians still at her screen, spoke up. Rose felt a surge of nausea. France gone… just like the rest of the world, 

“All those people, all those children…” Jackie trailed off. “Everyone’s so scared.” 

_They’re not the only ones,_ Rose thought. Her shaking hands kept clenching and unclenching. Waiting for death like this, it was like being back on that rocket and being pulled into the black hole. Knowing no matter how much they tried, they would eventually lose fuel and get sucked into the black hole. They would cease to be. 

“It’ll be over quickly,” Mickey tried to sound brave. “We’ll all be in a better place.”

We hope. Rose shoved her hands against her mouth. 

“You’ll be able to see your Pete again,” Pete told Jackie.

“You’ll be able to see your Jackie again.” Jackie suddenly groaned. ”Oh my god!” she suddenly wailed again. “I never thought of that. How complicated is this? Wait, what if this is a parallel heaven? Isn’t there just one place for everyone to go?” she asked. “How does it work with different universes?”

Pete smiled a little despite the situation and Rose couldn’t help a tearful, quiet chuckle as well. Typical Mum, she mused. 

“Can’t say I’ve thought about it,” Pete said. He looked to Mickey and Jake who were also starting to smile.

“Don’t you laugh at me, Pete Tyler.” Jackie protested with an indignant expression. “It’s not funny.”

“It might be our last chance to laugh,” Jake said. 

“That’s cheerful,” Mickey remarked.

“Well excuse me for not doing a river dance when we’re probably minutes away from-” Jake’s words were cut off by Mickey elbowing him in the ribs. Outside the screams were getting worse. Smashing sounds and more yelling rose up from the crowds. “Starting to wish I was out there too, smashing stuff up.”

Pete sighed. “Smash something in here if you think it’ll help.”

“Nah,” Jake smiled. “It wouldn’t feel right.”

Rose closed her eyes. _I’ll never see him again_. She realised as she thought about the same person she’d been missing for three years. She was never going to get back to him now. Finally, something else was seeing to that. She felt like something was clawing at her insides, digging into the worst feelings. She could see him, the Doctor, in her mind with his goofy smile and his brown coat. The eyes that looked so old and had seen so much. She would never see those eyes again, she thought.

But at the same time, Rose thought of all the people she’d seen die. The people she hadn’t been able to save. _I’ll see them again. I’ll see Dad again. Grandad Prentice too. All those people I already said goodbye to._ She would be with them again. Maybe in heaven she could see the Doctor from afar. Despite everything Jackie had said, Rose believed they would all find their loved ones waiting for them. Tears trailed down her cheeks and she didn’t bother to hide them. Her stomach was flipping over itself, sending jolting ways of panic flying up into her throat. It was all going to be over.

“Let me see Rose,” Jackie insisted. “I want to see both of my children,” she said.

Pete turned the screen towards Rose who tried to force a smile. Her mother was already in her peach nightie and dressing gown. In her arms and dressed in his Batman pyjamas, Rose’s little brother Tony c;lung to her with huge, confused brown eyes and very wobbly lips. 

Rose couldn’t stand the idea that he was about to die at all let alone die scared. “Hey Tony, hey,” Rose stepped forward and smiled more at the camera. If there was nothing else she could do for him as his big sister, she could at least distract him. “What’s the time Mr Wolf?”

Tony’s face brightened. “Dinner time!” he giggled and reached out for the camera. 

Rose poked her tongue out at him. “Can’t reach me!” she sang back at him. She loved the way his cheeks turned pink. His eyes were bright and happy. For the moment, she seemed to have chased away the tension he undoubtedly felt coming from Jackie. His laughter rang out beautifully. 

Even so, Rose was glad when Jackie, who was forcing a laugh, turned the camera back towards her. 

“I wish we were all together,” she lamented. “No, scratch that, I wish Torchwood could do something about this.” She sighed. “All these years, I was afraid you’d find a way home and leave us and now… I’d give anything for you to have that option.”

“Mum…” Rose protested. “There’s no point in what ifs now. It’s too late.”

Mickey suddenly straightened up. “Maybe now is exactly the time for what ifs,” he declared. He climbed off the desk he was perched on and raced across the vast laboratory until he reached a technological archway at the back of the room. “Maybe there’s just a little bit of hope,” he added.

Pete frowned. “What do you mean? Look Mickey, that machine doesn’t have the capacity to save all of us-” he began.

“It’s too late for most of us, yeah,” Mickey said. “But you said there’s one more trip already set up in this thing and enough capacity for one person.” He pointed to the arch. “You were going to send Rose on her own before we all found out about this.” He gestured to the horizon which was becoming more and more red. A terrible streak of fire was making its way across the horizon now. Rose looked over it. It was slowly devouring everything in its path. The screams outside worsened. 

Pete slowly rose up. “Yeah, to another universe. Likely another one without the doctor,” he said. 

Jackie’s gasped. “Or maybe not! Maybe the right one!” she declared. “You never know! And-and even if it’s not the right one, she’d be safe. One of us would be safe.”

Rose hesitated, her hands clasped in front of her mouth again. “But that’s not fair.” She said around them. “I can’t just abandon you all.”

“No offence but there’s nothing to abandon,” Jake answered. “We’re all going to die. You’re not missing out on anything. None of this is fair,” He looked to Pete. “But I think Mickey’s right. It’s worth a try even if it just ends up saving one life.”

“There might be another version of the doctor out there,” Mickey added. “Someone who can help make sure none of this happens again. That another universe doesn’t burn like this one. You know what to look for, where they might go.”

“Please Pete,” Jackie pleaded, “please save my daughter. Send her away from this hellhole.”

Pete stared around them for a moment and then stood up fully. “You’re right,” he said. He passed his phone to Rose. “Say your goodbyes,” he told her as he crossed the room to where Mickey was working on the machine. Jake soon joined him. “We’ve not got long,” Pete warned. 

“Mum…” Rose whispered. 

“Darling, I know,” Jackie said, “but Mickey, bless him, is looking out for you again and you’re the only one who can try and find the Doctor. Save our universe from ending up like this one. I love you so much Rose and I’m so so proud of you.”

“I love you, and Pete, and Tony,” Rose’s voice shook as the tears flowed down her face. “I wish I could take you with me.”

“You will do. The way you’ve taken your dad with you all your life.” Jackie insisted. “Where it matters.” She smiled up at Rose. “Now get ready. It won’t be long.”

Rose didn’t know how she managed to get across the room but in seconds she was there and Mickey was pulling her into a hug. Rose clung to him. 

“Another goodbye,” she sighed. 

“Hey,” Mickey took hold of her shoulders and pulled her back, “if there’s a way to come back and haunt you, I’ll find it.”

Rose half-laughed, half-sobbed. “Yeah… that sounds about right.”

“You’ll never get rid of me,” Mickey promised, squeezing her shoulders. “But don’t worry about all of us. You just find the Doctor and- and-” he seemed to stumble around trying to find the words. Finally, he sighed and smiled. “Just live your best life, Rose. For all of us.”

“You hate that phrase.”

“Yeah but this really is an over-my-dead-body zone,” Mickey joked weakly. “And anyway, it’s what we want for you. And you can’t ignore everybody’s dying wish can you?” he managed a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. He hugged her close again.

“I hate this,” Rose said. “I hate it so much.”

“Me too.”

“Come on now,” Pete urged them gently. “The fire’s almost here.” He swiftly pulled Rose into his arms. “You… you were the best sort of daughter I could have had,” he said, “and I know your dad would be just as proud of you as your mum and I are.”

Rose hugged him back. “I’ve loved getting to know you too.”

Pete stepped away. “You need to take what you can.” He looked around the nearby cupboards. “Someone grab me a bag.” Across the room, Rose heard cupboards and drawers being opened. Finally someone tossed a backpack over to Pete who caught it. He took out his wallet and put it in there. Mickey did the same, as did Jake. To Rose’s astonishment, other members of the Torchwood team started doing the same: Kelly the medic, Erik and Sadie the field agents, Terence and Kaiden, the scientists, as well as Laurel the linguistic expert. Rose ran to her own bag and grabbed it, checking that her phone, purse, passport and flat keys were inside. 

Pete took out all the bottled water from the fridge and added them to the backpack. 

He then looked at his phone and then at Rose. 

“Jackie, I’m giving Rose my phone now. All our pictures… our memories, they shouldn’t burn with us.”

“Too right,” Jackie agreed. 

“Goodbye my love,” he said.

“I think we both know we’ll see each other soon,” Jackie said, her voice surprisingly unwavering. She looked at Rose and her eyes shone with tears. “Keep the call connected as long as you can,” she said. 

“I will,” Rose promised. 

Mickey grabbed some food from a drawer in his desk. 

“Your stash,” Rose protested. 

“Good chocolate shouldn’t melt,” he said with a weak smile as he added it to her bag along with his phone. “Nor should our memories.”

“I’m gonna treasure them all,” Rose promised. 

The noise from the street had reached an all time high now. Some of them were being swallowed up by a roaring cracking noise. 

“It’s here,” Pete said, “get in the machine now.” 

He and Mickey both pushed her gently under the archway with Mickey passing her a small circular device. The machine crackled with energy and a thin blue light appeared in the middle of the archway. 

Rose turned around to look at them, all the people who were giving her a second chance and about to lose their lives. 

“Go, Rose!” Pete shouted. 

Behind him, she saw the windows smash and a surge of crimson fire rushed through the room. She stepped backwards into the light. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night rushed to greet Rose and she stumbled to a stop, hands catching herself against a stone pillar, taking in deep gulps of cold air. 

As she caught her breath, everything around her seemed so still. A welcome chill after the heat that had been chasing her. For a moment, relief took a complete hold over her. Rose turned and leaned back against the welcome anchor, the sturdy against the unstable. One careful breath and then another and Rose looked around. 

A city twinkled around her, vast and familiar. She could smell sea air and even in the darkness, she recognised the water tower with its imposing height. The Roald Dahl Plass was completely empty around her and Rose exhaled, bringing the back of her hand to her mouth as she took in the enormous space. Cardiff. This was Cardiff.

Almost by instinct, her eyes moved to the middle of the plass where the TARDIS had made a pit stop while its passengers had a dangerous reunion with Margaret the Slitheen. Well, more specifically Raxacoricofallapatorian. At any rate, Rose had faced plenty of danger tonight. There was none of the usual adrenaline rush. None of the certainty of the Doctor being there and being able to save everyone. No, this had been raw danger with no safety net. 

Rose remembered Pete’s phone and immediately scrambled to grab it. Maybe there was time to speak to her mum. 

The call had disconnected. It was too late. Her Mum was gone. Tony was gone. Mickey was gone. Pete was gone. Jake was gone. Everyone was gone.

Rose felt like she did on her first day of nursery - when her mum had dropped her off and later walked away. That feeling of intense confusion and abandonment only it was amplified now. _They’re all dead now, All those lives over_. The sobs began to take over her. She closed her eyes, shutting out the bright lights of the world. How could the world ever be bright again when all of her loved ones were dead? Her knees began to shake and Rose slid down against the pillar, hugging her bag close. 

An entire world had been snuffed out tonight. Her world had been snuffed out. Because it had been her world for these last three years. Something so horrific had happened and no one here would ever knew. She had probably ended up in a completely different parallel universe. Stranded forever. Just like she thought she had been on that planet above the black hole. Back when she thought the Doctor had died. Well, there would be no saving her now.

So she sat there and she sobbed, letting her cries be swallowed up by the night and drowned out by the sounds of occasional traffic. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seconds turned into minutes then into hours. 

The sky began to lighten and the air filled with more traffic and voices of people starting their day, carrying on with their lives. They began to walk across the Plass, some chatting, some running and none of them paying attention to the huddled blonde girl holding her backpack close to her. Her tears had dried off and stopped. She felt numb all over. She didn’t feel the cold nor the wind on her face that she could hear in the air. Everything inside her felt like it had switched off. 

The longer Rose sat there, the more she began to think about how noisy people were. The air was filling with chatter, with complaints and nagging and challenges and arguments. How much of their lives did people spend arguing or bearing grudges? If a tsunami raged on Cardiff tomorrow, people would pull together and support each other yet when there wasn’t a natural disaster in sight, people just turned on each other. It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t right. 

Rose wanted to stand up and order them all to hold their friends and families close, to close those distances between people and just hug each other. To make every day count because tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. That strange fire could be here tomorrow and it would be another waste. 

For one thing, she knew people wouldn’t listen. She’d be written off as someone in need of psychiatric help. At the same time, she realised that she didn’t want to take this away from them. That ignorance. The feeling of normality, that everything would be in the end. Hope. If nothing else, that’s what people had here. Who was she to take that away from them? That wasn’t her right. 

As the sun climbed higher, Rose felt stiffness settling into her body. She couldn’t stay here. She had to move. She had to go… somewhere, anywhere. 

Where was she supposed to go? Where did this unexpected chance begin? How did she find out if she was in the right universe or not? Her mind felt foggy, like it had been submerged in a marsh and now everything felt vague and uncertain. So many paths and directions lay before her and they all looked the same. 

She forced herself to her feet and closed the bag over. She slid one strap over her shoulder and looked out towards the bay, the rush of sea air washing over her face. She wiped at her eyes and looked around at people. So far none of them had earpods or identical bracelets or anything like that. It looked like home should look like. _So did many of the others_ , Rose reminded herself as she walked through the middle of the plass and back towards the middle of the city. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rose wasn’t sure where she was going but she had to go somewhere. Maybe walking around would help her work out where she was supposed to be. She walked along street after street, taking random turns and sometimes double backing on herself. She could hear the voices of everyone she’d left echoing in her mind: Pete’s orders, her mum’s pleas, Tony’s laughter, Mickey’s assurance, Jake’s remarks and the terrible sound of the fire ripping through everything. It seemed like seconds ago.

As she walked past the shops, she got a glimpse of herself. In the morning light, she looked pale. The green backpack looked at odds with her blue leather jacket, black jeans and fuchsia t-shirt. Her hair hung limply around her face and she could see some mascara streaks down the sides of her face. She wiped at them.

She slowed to a stop outside a newsagents. Something about the sight of the newspapers stirred an old memory. 

“ _You’re dead. Officially, back home. So many people went missing that day. You’re listed among the dead._ ”

Something connected in Rose’s mind. It was just a small connection and it may make her sound bonkers but she had to try. 

She walked into the newsagents. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that it had been many hours since she’d last eaten anything so she grabbed a sandwich and a newspaper, taking both up to the desk where a portly latino man was reorganizing the special offer products which were apprently tictacs and toxic waste sweets. “Hi,” she greeted as she slid the items over to him and opened her bag to grab one of the purse. She lifted her own and handed the correct change to the man. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything of the Battle of Canary Wharf have you?”

“Canary Wharf?” the man repeated. His great bushy eyebrows knitted together forming one furry caterpillar. Rose’s heart began to sink as she bagged her items. 

There was a long silence and Rose wondered if he was about to call her crazy. 

“It’s all right if-” she began to say. She could feel her cheeks heating up and there was a stinging behind her eyes. This was the wrong universe, wasn’t it?

“That was the aliens over London thing,” the newsagent said, snapping his fingers. He began gesturing in swirling motions by his head “Not the Christmas one with everyone on the roof, the other one with the metal soldiers and the flying pepper pots.”

Rose’s face lit up in an enormous smile. He knew about it, and the Sycorax as well. This was her universe and the Doctor somewhere out there. She was home. In that moment, the relief was so blinding, so all encompassing that she forgot about what had happened hours before. Just for a few seconds she was buoyed by the feeling. 

“What about it?” the newsagent asked, brows still furrowed. “I wouldn’t call that anything to smile about.”

Rose’s smile dimmed. “No of course. I-I was just checking that someone else remembered it too.”

“How come?” the newsagent was sounding more and more guarded by the second. “No one’s likely to forget that being in the news are they?”

“No… no I suppose not. I just heard a stupid rumour that it didn’t really happen and we were just hallucinating.” Rose lied.

The suspicion vanished from the man’s face and he laughed suddenly, making Rose jump as he did. “Oh that shit. Yeah I heard that too. Utter nonsense. That would have to be a hell of a scale effort,” he said, “and it doesn’t explain why people lost people they loved that day.”

Just like that, Rose’s mind was cast back to the inferno that was replaying over and over in her memories. “No it doesn’t,” she agreed. “Well,” she paused, “thank you,” she told him as she fastened her bag and turned towards the door. 

“Bye,” the man called after her as she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Rose was sat on a train bound for London. She’d taken up a seat at the very back of the train with few people around her. Those that were in the same carriage were hidden behind books or newspapers or looking out the window sipping their coffees. 

Making a quiet show of rummaging in her bag, she quickly moved all the money into her purse along with the cards. She ate half of her sandwich and washed it down with half a bottle of water too. She wondered if these cards would work over here or how long her supplies would last. She turned the phones off and realised that she would need to get a new charger for them at some point. Along with a new place to live and a job until she could find the Doctor again. It was surreal to think that she was finally back home after three years. But she’d paid the heaviest of prices for it. That knowledge sat on her chest like a dagger, always driving that point home.

Rose leaned her head against the glass. 

She thought of Tony whose favourite thing in life was to travel by train. He used to climb over everyone’s knees to look out the window. He loved counting chimneys and trees. He also counted animals too and green cars. Always the green ones. But he would take no more journeys anymore. He wouldn’t go on holiday. He wouldn’t be going to school and he wouldn’t be able to see all the things she had been able to see. He hadn’t even made it to adulthood. 

Rose let out a quiet sob. _Wherever you are, Tony, I hope you can count all the green cars. I hope you know how much you’re loved._ She thought silently. 

As the train rumbled on, Rose shifted so she was leaning against her backpack. The sun was climbing higher, flooding the carriage and the world with daylight. Warmth flowed with it but Rose made no motion to take off her jacket. The motion of the train was soothing, kind of hypnotic and she felt her eyes closing. 

Tiredness embraced her and pulled her away from the conscious world for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours later, she was woken by noise and lots of it: people chattering and calling to each other from train to platform, the rolling and clunking of luggage and distant whistles and platform announcements. For a moment, it all hit her at once and Rose felt disorientated. There was movement all around her and voices chattering as people disembarked from the train. As the train began to clear, Rose felt herself wake up more. 

Looking out the window, she saw the platform name - London Euston. She was home. 

Checking her bag to see if everything was there, she stood up and followed everyone else off the train. 

She moved on autopilot, weaving through the crowds naturally, the way she had always handled London traffic. She darted easily in whatever gaps she could find and kept her bag pressed against her chest. Up escalator after escalator and finally through the main doors. 

Bright sunlight welcomed her and nostalgia assaulted her as soon as she stepped outside. Things weren’t that different in the other world. It had been only the a few days before yesterday that she’d disembarked at Euston from the Eurostar after lending her services to the French Torchwood. Now it just felt strange to be back here in her original universe. She felt like a foreigner as she walked towards the line of black cubs waiting nearby. She checked her bag and her purse before approaching one. 

“The Powell Estate please,” she told a female driver with blue hair and a bored expression. The woman broke into a smile. So she should, it was a decent fare. 

“Travelling light?” she asked, eyeing Rose’s back.

“Yeah,” Rose answered as she climbed into the back.

En route to her former home, Rose was glad that her driver made no attempt to chat to her beyond the occasional reassurance about traffic. It gave Rose the chance to watch London pass by her window, eyeing up some of her favourite haunts and remembering others. Lunch with Mickey in Trafalgar Square, shopping in Oxford Street, occasionally wandering down to St James’ Park for a laugh with Shareen and Mickey. 

It occurred to Rose that she was going to have to tell people what happened, that Mickey and her mum were now both dead. She was going to have to lie about their funerals and where she’s been for the past three years. _At least I’m alive,_ Rose thought, _so it’s the least I can do to give people the story they need to hear._

Before long, the taxi was pulling onto the Powell Estate.

Rose inhaled sharply. Images of vague ghost shapes and the Doctor in his TARDIS and the estate full of ghosts came back to her. She clutched her bag closer to her, her pulse racing as she thought about that awful, awful day. She could hear the sea of Bad Wolf Bay roaring in her ears and the sound of her own sobs. Her heart hammered so hard in her chest that she thought it might actually be about to literally break.

“Are you all right?” the taxi driver asked in a softer voice. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Rose shook her head as the cries of the Daleks and Cybermen rang out in her head. “I-I’m fine.”

More memories tore through her mind: her last conversation with the Doctor, leaving her mum behind the first time and facing the Cult of Skaro with Mickey. The argument with the Doctor about her future also rang out and she could feel tears spilling down her face as she remembered it. 

Long seconds passed before Rose heard another voice.

“Breathe,” the woman spoke carefully, louder, her voice cutting through the memories in Rose’s head. “Breathe in…. 2….3, and out….2…3…”

Automatically, Rose began following the woman’s advice and as she took deep breaths, the memories began to subside and her pulse began to slow. She relaxed a little more and closed her eyes as the panicked feeling ebbed away. When she opened them again, she saw the driver looking at her with some concern.

“Feeling better?” she asked Rose.

Rose nodded. “Y-yeah, thank you.” She reached into her purse and pulled out the fare plus an extra fiver. “Here, thank you,” she said before climbing out of the cab with her bag. She looked up at the blocks of flats. 

“Thanks for this. Although… are you sure you want to stay here? It’s a rough neighbourhood,” the driver asked, leaning her arm along her open window. 

Rose smiled a little. “I’ll be fine. This is… was… home for me.”

“Okay then. See you,” With that, the cab reversed and turned away. Rose listened to it join the rest of the traffic before walking forwards, back onto the estate. 

Back in the other universe, she had looked up the Powell Estate and the people she and her mum used to know. Shareen didn’t live there. She’d become a lawyer and her dad had actually stayed around to bring her up. Some of her other friends hadn’t even been born though their parents weren’t known. Rose had even looked up Jimmy Stone only to discover he was a happily married primary school teacher here. Now that had weirded her and Mickey out. 

It looked pretty much the same as it had always been except for the presence of more graffiti. A gang of teenagers was currently crowded around a stairwell with one of them, a sleek girl, spray painting a mural of what looked like roses with skateboards tangled between the stems and the thorns. 

The stepped away and spoke to the group. One of the girls nodded, laughing and tossing flame-coloured hair over her shoulders. Rose suppressed a shudder at the reminder and focused on the girl who had been doing the graffiti. Dark hair fell in beautiful waves around a narrow face lighting up with satisfaction. She was gesturing a lot, her brown hands making expansive gestures and complicated movements in the air. Brown eyes scanned the handiwork and small lips curved into a smile that reminded Rose of her friend Shareen. She looked about fifteen or sixteen and Rose realised, looking at her with recognition, how much she had grown up since she’d last seen the girl. She’d been about twelve when Rose had last spent any real time at Shareen’s home. “Nyala?” Rose called out to her. 

Nyala turned at once and her grip on the can loosened. It began to slip but her fingers caught it by their fingertips. Two boys gripped their cans harder, their postures defensive. They looked between Nyala who was gaping at Rose to Rose herself. “Are you guys seeing her too?” Nyala asked them, her voice shaking a little. 

“The blonde?” one of the boys asked. 

“Yeah,” another said. “What’s up? You okay?”

Nyala didn’t answer them but continued to advance on Rose.“Rose?” she asked. Her purple jacket had many tears that had been messily patched up and her blue hoodie underneath it was several sizes too big for her. It fell down all the way to the knees of her ripped jeans. It was oddly reassuring. Rose could remember how often she’d tried on her sister’s clothes and how they teased her for being too small for them. 

“It’s me,” Rose confirmed as Nyala reached her. “I’m back.”

Nyala blinked at her rapidly and then suddenly she was wrapping herself around Rose’s waist. Rose caught her, hands holding her head and her back to steady her. In the next second she was returning the hug fiercely, burying her face in Nyala’s raven hair and breathing in the smell of spray paint. 

“You’re really here,” Nyala mumbled into Rose’s shoulder. “You’re not dead.”

Rose rubbed the younger girl’s back. “No, no I’m fine.”

“Shareen and I went to see Canary Wharf and we saw the list of the dead,” Nyala explained. “Shareen couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t sleep for weeks. Even the others-” she pulled back from the hug and nodded towards her friends, “-we couldn’t believe it. What were you doing in Canary Wharf? Why did they think you’d been killed? What happened? Shareen was a mess after that… She-she- she-” Nyala broke off, shaking her head. Her expression sharpened and she frowned at Rose. “How can you be alive after all this time? Why didn’t you come back home?” Her whole body had gone still and her hands curled into fists, dangling at her side.

Rose bowed her head. She had accepted she would have to tell people something to explain her absence. Admittedly, she had expected to have more time for it. But looking into Nyala’s angry, confused eyes, Rose realised she couldn’t fob her off after all this time. The problem was, Rose didn’t know where to start or how much of the truth to use. Whatever story she told now, she would need to stick to. Also there was the matter of which one of Nyala’s many questions to answer first. Not to mention the inevitable fallout with Shareen once she reunited with her. Rose’s head was already beginning to ache at the thought of that conversation. 

She decided to keep it simple. “I was caught up in the battle,” Rose admitted. If she could stick to as many truths as possible, it would be easier. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she explained. “At the end of it all, I was in a really bad place and so me and mum just went away. We didn’t want anyone to know how bad things got and as time went by, it just go easier to keep lying. We went away to heal and a few weeks turned into a few years.“ 

She watched the suspicion easing out of Nyala. “We would have understood. Besides, why didn’t you just text?”

“My phone was destroyed in the battle so I lost my contacts.” Rose lied. “I know you would have got why we left but things were just mental back then. We needed to get our heads together and things just… got away from us, you know?” Rose assured her. 

She could feel her heartbeat quickening again as she approached the answer to Nyala’s unspoken next questions. She felt like dread was cementing her where she stood unable to run away and dodge the rest of this conversation. Force her to endure every agonizing second of it. 

“So you went missing. Won’t you get in trouble for hiding away like that?” Nyala asked. 

“I dunno. Maybe not.”

Nyala wrapped her arms around herself. “I just can’t believe you’re okay,” she said, her voice growing smaller. “I really thought you were gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Rose said. She could feel her eyes misting over. Only now was she realising what her disappearance might have put Shareen and Nyala through. _Maybe I deserve this. Maybe that’s why I ran into Nyala. Maybe this is my punishment._ “C’mere,” she said and pulled Nyala into another hug. “I’m so sorry.”

I sound like him. 

Nyala clung to her once more. “Are you back for good now? You and your mum?”

Rose stiffened involuntarily. And there it is. She kept hold of Nyala as she tried to form the words. “I don’t know. I mean… the thing is, my mum- ,my mum died.” There, the words were spoken and yet Rose felt more weighed down than ever. She could see her mother’s face on the screen again and hear her voice.

“She’s dead?!” Nyala jerked back horrified. “What happened- was it- how?”

Rose realised a few tears had escaped her eyes. When she reached up to brush them away, she realised the floodgates had opened again. Streams of tears moved down her cheeks, against her will. “There was a fire,” she told her, the words tumbling out of her. “A lot of people died in it. I was the only one they saved.”

“A-a-a fire?” Nyala took another step back. Rose saw that she was trembling. “Oh god.”

“Nyala?” Rose asked.

The teenager’s eyes were streaming tears now. “T-that’s what happened to her, to-to-to Shareen.”

“Shareen was in a fire?” Rose felt her stomach become hard and an icy feeling invaded her chest. “Did she get out okay? Was she hurt?” she asked. Her eyes drifted towards the mural near Nyala’s friends. The roses and the skateboards. Shareen was one of the skateboarding champs around here and up until now Nyala had thought Rose was dead. The horrible truth began to sink in and Rose gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand. “No- no- come on, tell me she’s not.”

Nyala lowered her gaze. “It happened last year,” she admitted.

Rose let out a sob and closed her eyes. Her best friend Shareen, her partner-in-crime over the years, her _childhood_ friend was suddenly gone as well as everyone else. Her brain conjured some very unwanted images of Shareen lying lifelessly, burning away. She tried to blink them away but they returned in technicolour.

“She was in a bad way in hospital.” Nyala confirmed. “I was with her when she died. She said at least she knew she was going to see you again.”

Rose felt physically ill, like someone had punched her with ice.. Her stomach felt like a heavy weight was sitting inside it. Guilt was clawing at her chest again and there was a slight tremor in her hands. She looked down at her shaking fingers and tried to still them. She took deep breath after deep breath. _You should have found a way back sooner,_ she cursed herself. _You should have tried harder earlier. You might have saved her._ “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

For a moment, Nyala fixed her with a hard gaze but then she shook her head. “My sister is in a better world than this one. We’ll both see her again.” She wiped away her own tears. “So we both lost someone, huh? I’m sorry about your Mum.”

Rose nodded. For a couple of minutes neither of them said anything. Finally Rose sighed. “God, what a mess this is.”

“Tell me about it,” Nyala said. She looked around at Rose’s bag. “So where are you going to stay?” she asked after she took a moment to regain her composure. Her voice sounded stronger when she spoke again. “Are you going to try and get a flat around here?”

Rose wiped at her face again with both hands as she remembered her living situation. “I’m gonna see if our old flat is available,” she said. “I guess I’ll just figure things out after that.” Although she had to hope that she could use the money on these cards in her purse to pay for the first month’s rent. Or else she’ll have to talk to the council. “I still have a lot to sort out.”

Nyala looked dismayed. “Your old flat now has a family living there.”

“Oh. Right. Well that’s that then.”

“You can ask the council if they have any others? People move out all the time.”

It was true enough, Rose remembered but she didn’t relish the idea of living in a different flat after spending all of her life in her previous one. But she couldn’t very well ask a family to leave, could she? Exhaling, Rose slid both hands into her hair and looked around the estate, trying to stem the flow of tears. Seriously, was everything just going to hell today? First her family and friends in the parallel world now Shareen was gone too. It made her hesitant to ask about any more from her past. 

“Rose?” Nyala sounded uneasy. 

Rose stepped away, holding a hand up at Nyala. “Look I-I gotta figure this all out. I-” the words fell out of her mouth before her brain could approve them. Sadly her mind was too awash with the events of the day. 

“Rose!” Nyala moved towards her. “We can go back to my place. I’ll talk to Mum about you staying with us or something.”

Shaking her head, Rose wrapped her arms around each other. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll sort something out. I just- I just need to be on my own for a bit.”

Without giving Nyala much time to respond, she walked away from the blocks of flats and over toward the playground. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once more, she was overwhelmed by memories of that day. In her mind’s eye she could see the Doctor goofing around about ghostbusters, yammering about uncovering mysteries and arguing with her mother. She remembered him accidentally taking Jackie with him instead of Rose and then Rose sneaking around Torchwood. 

Only now those memories were mixed with ones about Shareen: hanging around the shops together, skiving school and staring at boys, trying cider at 14 and sneaking into pubs at 16. She could see Shareen laughing as she told Rose all the rudest jokes. She could feel her arms around her after all the Jimmy Stone shit. 

Grabbing onto the blue painted railing, Rose let the sobs pour out of her as everything collapsed on her at once. Why had everything been taken from her? What had she done that was so awful to deserve all of this? Where could she possibly go from here when everything was just so different?

Turning around, she slid to the floor and drew her knees to her chest, cradling her backpack. 

This did not feel like her world anymore. Could three years change things that much? Apparently they could. 


	2. The Missing Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose struggles emotionally as she finds shelter for the night. Meanwhile in Torchwood Cardiff, Tosh and Jack notice something strange on the CCTV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a quick heads up, this story is actually set three years after Doomsday as opposed to the probably two years in the show. The Donna stuff has not happened yet though I very much intend to introduce her later. So the Martha storylines will have stretched over about 18 months-ish. 
> 
> Also this chapter necessitated many a google search about which social media things were invented/upgraded by 2009.

Before long, night was descending on the Powell estate. 

Rose looked up at the darkening sky from her swing, moving silently back and forth, shivering in the cold. She wished she’d been wearing a warmer coat back in the other world but then again nobody had been prepared for any of this. So she just hugged her bag closer to her. It wasn’t much for extra warmth especially when she was so exposed in the cold night air like this. Lowering her gaze, Rose looked back towards the flats and all the lights in the windows. 

Ordinary people just living their lives, having dinner in the light and the warmth. Rose shivered again. She’d just have to get used to it until she sorted something out. Besides the cold kept her alert. The taxi driver wasn’t wrong about the Powell estate. It could be a pretty rough neighbourhood especially at night. Unless that had miraculously changed in the past few years but Rose doubted it. Some things about the world just did not change. 

She reached into her bag and brought out her phone. Her fingers were white and stiff and she flexed them a few times to loosen them up. 

She turned the phone on and began to scroll through the gallery. Goofy images of her and Tyler came up immediately: a laughing Rose carrying Tyler who was completely smeared with green paint, Pete pulling a face as he looked at a green hand print on his tie, her mother and Pete holding Tony between them and all of them wearing party hats, her and Tony sitting in the garden smiling with Tony reaching for the camera, Rose crouching down while Tony sat in his swing seat and then a selfie of all the Tylers plus Mickey having a picnic in the garden.

Rose stared down at them all as her fingers touched the screen, tracing each person. “I miss you,” she whispered. “I miss you so much.”

A harsh, bitter wind blew through her and Rose gripped the phone tighter. She scrolled through more photos, of her friends in Torchwood, of her and Mickey on their continental trips on behalf of Torchwood, of her mum and Pete still sickeningly cute despite the strange circumstances that had brought them together. So much laughter, so many happy faces. It was hard to believe that they were all gone now. Rose turned off the phone and put it away. 

Turning back towards the flats, she could hear people shouting: teenagers calling out dares and playing knock and run, adults getting into arguments or laughing obnoxiously loud and people shouting from the balconies for the others to shut up. Rose found herself smiling ruefully. 

This might not be everybody’s idea of normal but this was home for her. The noise, the shouting, the graffiti and the underage drinking. But even so, beneath it all there was a community. There was her mum’s circle of friends who would always take Rose in for a time when Jackie was having a hard time, or would slip Rose a few quid to go out with her friends when Jackie couldn’t afford it. Mickey and his friends with their band always liked to hang out with Rose, Shareen and some of the other local girls. Many a night had been spent drinking cider on the stairwell to the flats. Always talking about what they would do with themselves, how the band would make it big and they’d all go travelling one day. They had had so many dreams. Even when people around them were telling them it would never happen unless they got their A-levels or a proper job. They would talk and plan anyway because having dreams or having something to think about was better than dwelling on the present. 

This had been her life before she entered the TARDIS. Another life that was gone. But she would try and get it back. She couldn’t save people in the parallel world but she could find the Doctor again. She would do everything she could to save this world. 

Another bitter wind, this one more forceful, ploughed into her and Rose slowly got up from the swing and secured her bag over her shoulder. She started walking out of the park and back towards the estate. As she passed the fence surrounding the park, a memory floated to the surface; a memory of her walking home and hearing the strangest, wind-like, whistling, technical kind of sound. She’d turned around only to see nothing there where a blue box had been previously. Rose slowed to a stop as she remembered that day. It was as clear in her mind as if it had just happened yesterday instead of four years ago. The first time she had heard the sounds of the TARDIS. Rose’s mouth quirked into a sad smile before she continued walking.

The tower blocks offered some protection from the wind but it was still cold. Rose felt stabs of envy as she looked up into the lit windows of the flats. 

As she crossed the open pavement between blocks, her eyes looked upward toward one particular doorway several floors up. Both windows were full of light. A new family living there now, filling the flat up with new memories, new arguments and new things. Part of Rose felt angry at those people for being there. _That’s my home,_ she wanted to yell at them. _That’s where I grew up. How could you take it over?_ But she couldn’t say anything like that. Everyone deserved somewhere to live and the flat had seemingly lost its occupants. Even so, there was a heavy feeling in Rose’s chest. 

She turned away from the windows and her feet carried her away, towards one of the stairways leading up into the flats. Built into one of them was a door. Rose hadn’t thought about it for a long time. It supposedly opened into a storage area for maintenance supplies. But unless things had changed in the past few years, it had been quite some time since anyone had actually used it for maintenance. Rose remembered many an evening when she and Shareen had snuck in there to share a cider or two. Or when she and Mickey had wanted some… alone time. 

Rose frowned as she approached the door. She could feel her heart throbbing at the thought of Mickey. Sweet, wonderful Mickey who had deserved so much better.

A padlock hung off the door but it was long since broken and a thick layer of rust had taken over it. Rose pulled on the handle and opened the door. The small cupboard space was empty. A couple of stools stood to one side of the space while a tall, empty shelf filled the other side. Rose squeezed between them and closed the door behind her. It wasn’t all that much warmer in here but at least it was a roof over her head for tonight. 

Rose thought back to Nyala’s offer to ask her mum if Rose could stay but she felt no regret for refusing it. She couldn’t stay in Shareen’s old room and she didn’t think her mum would want her to. The idea of someone who was previously “dead” sleeping in their actually dead daughter’s room did not seem like something that would sit well. So Rose took a seat on one stool and lifted her legs to rest her feet on the other. She leaned back against the wall. Not the most comfortable position in the world but she’d been in worse places. 

She took a bottle of water from her bag and drank from it. She ate the second and last sandwich from her bag along with several bars of chocolate. She brought out her phone again and loaded up facebook. She searched herself. Okay her account was still there. She logged in and immediately searched out Shareen’s profile. 

Shareen’s smiling face gazed up at Rose. Her hair was just as black and sleek as Nyala’s. Shareen’s brown eyes were framed with larger lashes than Nyala had. She also had a fuller, curvier build to her. Rose had always envied her for her self-confidence about her looks. She wasn’t someone who bowed to peer pressure. If she thought something looked good on her then she’d wear it no matter what anyone else thought. She scoffed at pictures of models and would defiantly scoff chocolate during dieting adverts. She drank pop like it was going out of fashion and she loved to dance all the sugar away. She never aimed to be anything less than what she was and tears slid down Rose’s cheeks as she heard her friend’s voice inside her head. 

_“Any boy tries to get between me and chocolate and he is going to lose out BIG time,_ ” she remembered Shareen saying on more than one occasion. _“And he’s got his work cut out if he goes for my cider too,”_ her friend had laughed. _“Unless of course a cute boy is bringing me the cider.”_ Her laugh had been so light, so joyful. 

Rose gazed down at the dozens of tribute comments people had left on her profile. 

“The Powell Estate lost a beautiful angel tonight. #PowellAngel”  
“Right up there with Rose sipping cider & having a laugh.”  
“Taken 2 soon. Amazing friend. Great dancer. Terrible jokes.”  
“Will miss u 4eva. U woz always there for people. Love u lots.”  
“Rest in peace amazing girl. Miss you always.”  
“Partners in crime reunited. Rose is waiting for you. Good night angels.”  
“Rest in peace gorgeous girl. We’ll look out for Nyala and ur mum.”

Rose began to sob all over again. If there was a heaven then Shareen was alone up there. There wasn’t this happy reunion that people thought there was. Rose had not been waiting for her. As soon as people realised Rose was alive, they would realise that Shareen didn’t have her friend looking out for her. But then, Rose realised, it had been a long time since she had looked out for anyone on the Powell Estate. Since meeting the Doctor, she had kind of left them all behind. 

“Oh god,” she covered her mouth as more sobs came out. It was like someone was shining clarity all over the year or so before the battle. She’d had so many opportunities to take a break and hang out with her friends but no, she’d been swept up in the Doctor and time travelling and forgotten about them all. She felt wretched just remembering it. How many times had she sat with her friends, making the same promises that they would still be friends in ten years time? And there was Mum who had given her life to raising Rose and Rose had just left her without a second’s thought to say goodbye. The only reason she’d had the past three years with her was because she had been stuck there.

Rose choked. _Some daughter you were._

What did it say about her that she desperately wanted to hear her mother’s voice now that she was gone when she had taken her for granted so badly? Sure everyone did but most people wouldn’t abandon their mother to another universe. Rose had met many morally questionable people on her travels but now she realised maybe she was one of them. Maybe it was only a matter of time before the Doctor saw through that too? If it hadn’t been Canary Wharf, maybe she would have ended up like Sarah Jane and just dumped one day? Right now, Rose didn’t think she would have blamed him if he had done that. She’d been a selfish and terrible daughter. Jackie Tyler had deserved better after bringing Rose up on her own.

Rose looked down at her phone. So far the Torchwood technology in it was holding up well; discreetly latching onto any wifi nearby without the need for a password. On top of that, there was the substantial pay as you go credit stored. She supposed it was lucky that she’d topped up a week or so before the end of the world. _It’ll probably last a while since there’s no one here to message_ , Rose thought. 

Except for Nyala but Rose didn’t want to drag her into anything. Her family had been through enough. 

She dialled her voicemail and listened to the automated voice. She prayed that she hadn’t had a clear out of her messages lately. 

“You have no new messages. You have four messages.” The voice spoke. “Press 1 to play messages.” Rose hit the key and waited for the first message. 

“Rose? Answer your bloody phone!” Her mum’s impatient voice came through as clear as crystal. Rose’s face lit up and she pressed a hand against her mouth as tears began to trickle down her cheek. “I’m doing the online shopping. I didn’t lock myself out my account this time so I call that a result! Anyway, what do you want for your tea? I’m gonna get us some of that nice red you like. Tony’s eaten us out of ice cream again so I’ll get a tub of that chocolate one he likes. Mickey said he’ll come over for dinner as well. It should be a really nice night. What time are you finishing? I-” Her mother’s voice disappeared cut off by the automated end of message line. 

Rose closed her eyes and reveled in the sound of her mother’s voice. She sounds so normal and fine, she thought to herself. She doesn’t sound dead. She doesn’t sound scared or sad. She sounds like she’s still here. 

“Press 1 to replay the message.”

Rose pressed 1 and listened to the message again. This time brought a fresh wave of sobs out of her as it sank in that this was the last message she’d ever have from her mother. She pressed the replay button over and over, treasuring each and every one of Jackie’s words. After the fifth time, she moved onto the next message. 

It was from Pete. “Hey Rose, let me know when you get to Paris. The Torchwood team are sending a car for you. I’m sending you a picture of the driver. Your mum sends her love. She asks if you can bring back some of those pastries she likes. Don’t ask me why. It’s not like we don’t have pastries here…”

Rose smiled a little at the end of that message. For someone who looked exactly like her dad but wasn’t actually her dad, Pete had really stepped up in the parallel world. It must have been painful being around someone who looked and sounded like his dead wife just like it must have been weird for her mum too. The whole thing was weird. Beyond weird. And yet it kind of worked. Tony had been born and he was like a magnet pulling everyone together. 

Thinking about that only made everything hurt all the more. Rose turned off her phone and tucked it away in her bag. She tried to make herself as comfortable as she could and stared ahead at the door. Outside she could hear a lot of chatter and drunken laughter. Life going on as per usual.

Rose closed her eyes. She needed to get as much rest as she could. Tomorrow she was going to find the Doctor one way or the other. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sleeping in a maintenance shed with no heating was not going to make Rose’s list of top ten places to sleep. 

Besides the cold, the uncomfortable seats and the noisy chatter and shouts off and on throughout the night, sleep did very little in the way of calling to her. Her mind kept replaying the last conversations with her mum, Tony, Pete and Mickey and then proceeding to take her on unwelcome trips down memory lane. All those happy family memories that had been packed into such a short space of time. 

With all that going on in her head, Rose did not manage to relax enough into sleep until about 5am. It was an uneasy sleep filled with different variations of the doomsday, end of the world scenario and in all of them she failed to save anyone. One after another the dreams plagued her. Until a few hours later when the door banged and Rose jolted awake. 

She grabbed onto the maintenance shelf to steady herself, her heart racing. “Who’s there?” she demanded. “Is this some kind of joke?” She looked down into her lap and saw that her bag was still there. She checked the insides and soon reassured herself that everything was in there. Meanwhile no one answered her. All she could hear was the sound of the wind picking up. It began knocking the door against the frame and Rose exhaled. Just the wind. It was just the wind. 

Looking at her watch, she sighed. 8am. She rubbed at her eyes, feeling weighed down with tiredness but she also felt too awake to get back to sleep. Oh well, time to get to work on finding the Doctor then. She drank some water, ate some chocolate and climbed off the stools, stretching out as much as she could in the small space. As she walked out of the shed, she emptied some water onto her hand and rubbed it across her face, waking herself up.

“Rose?” 

Nyala’s voice came from above her. Rose turned to see the teenager standing halfway up the stairs, leaning over the railing, gazing down at her. She was dressed in a lime green t-shirt that had more than a few holes in it, ripped grey jeans and dirty trainers. Despite her ragged clothes, she didn’t seem fazed but then again, Rose realised, neither had Shareen. Neither of them had seemed to dwell on their absent dad. Even though Rose’s dad was gone for a different reason, she had resonated with the two girls for that absence.

“Did-” Nyala gestured downward, “did you sleep in there?” She trotted down the rest of the stairs and moved closer to Rose, frowning deeply at her. 

“Sort of,” Rose answered honestly. “Not sure you could call it sleeping.”

“Rose! You should have come to us,” Nyala complained. “It would have been warm and comfortable and-”

“-not fair on your mum,” Rose said as she slid her backpack over her shoulders. “I read some of the tributes on facebook, Nyala, on Shareen’s facebook. I know people thought Shareen had me waiting up there for her. I know they took some comfort in that.”

“What has that got to do with you not staying with us?” Nyala pointed out. 

“Because,” Rose took hold of Nyala’s shoulders gently, “if your mum was one of those people then me coming back here and staying with her is just going to hurt.”

Nyala closed her eyes for a moment before stepping in closer and hugging Rose who returned it instantly. “Yeah maybe,” Nyala conceded quietly as she pulled away, “but she wouldn’t want you sleeping here in this shed that… stinks of beer,” she wrinkled her nose. “I love that you’re thinking of her but she’d want you to have a safe place to stay. And I know Shareen would want that too.”

Rose swallowed back a lump that had formed in her throat. “Look, you don’t need to worry,” she assured the younger girl. ”Anyway, it was just for one night. I’m going to sort something else out.” She looked around them, at the estate that she’d once called home, that had once been her entire world. Standing here now, she realised just how small that world was, how much she’d outgrown it. “I just need to get back in touch with someone first. Once I sort that out, I’ll find somewhere, okay?”

Nyala folded her arms. “How are you going to do that? Who are you going to see?”

Rose smiled despite the state of things. Looking at Nyala with her fierce, demanding curiosity and her tatty clothes, it was like looking at a younger Shareen. Rose could feel her heart throbbing with that bittersweet recognition. Three years had really changed Nyala. It still weirded Rose out to compare her to the scrawny child she remembered. Yet she was still there hidden beneath the - likely sketchily purchased - make up.

“I’m still figuring that out,” Rose said. “But I’ll get in touch when I get sorted.”

Nyala raised both eyebrows at her for a few seconds. “Right, get out your phone and let’s swap numbers. Oh and Skype names too,” she insisted. “And don’t be an idiot. If you need help, just ask,” she insisted. 

Rose smiled weakly. “Wow you definitely got her bossiness too, eh?”

“Damn straight.”

Rose got out her phone, quickly noting the low battery as she did. Once the two of them had swapped phone numbers and Skype usernames, she turned her phone off. “Right. I better be off then. It was really good seeing you, Nyala,” she told the teenager. She walked backwards a few steps and tried to put on an enthusiastic grin. “Stay out of trouble.”

Nyala laughed a little. “On this estate?” she called out. “You’re having a laugh.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jack?” Toshiko called across the nearly empty base as she put the tray of coffee cups down on her desk. She shrugged out of her coat, put her bag down and loaded her computer up quickly. She picked up the tray again and turned towards her boss who was emerging from his office with his usual cheesy smile. “Morning,” she said. 

“Morning, and you are an angel,” he said as she held out the tray. He took one of the cups and sipped the hot coffee. 

“You know, ordering that much sugar in your caffeine really isn’t good for you,” Tosh answered with a smile as she lifted her own cup and tossed the tray in a bin by Owen’s desk. She returned to her desk and sat down. 

Jack laughed quietly, sauntering over and leaning against Owen’s desk. “No but to be fair, it’s not exactly going to kill me is it?”

“True,” Tosh agreed. For a few minutes, the two of them stayed in a comfortable silence broken only by the loading of various programs. 

“How was your mother?” Jack asked between sips of his coffee. “Must have been nice to see her again.”

“It was a really nice few days,” Tosh agreed as she drank her own coffee. “Really lovely to catch up with her. Skype calls just aren’t the same,” she added. It had been one of her rare trips away from work and Torchwood. After Jack had gotten her free from UNIT, it had been on the condition that she worked for Torchwood for five years and during the first year, Tosh had made sure to prove herself so that she could request visits to see her mother. Her mother was doing much better and had a quiet life in Bath. Tosh made a point of visiting her at least a few times a year and video called her more often. These trips also helped her with some much needed perspective sometimes. A reminder that there was life outside of Torchwood.

“I’m glad. You know, Tosh, you should have a life outside of this place,” Jack pointed out gently. “Not just for visiting your mother. That whole five year thing wasn’t meant to exclude a social life.”

Tosh kept her gaze on her screen though she went still. “I know but I’m fine.” She slowly turned her face to him. “This job is incredible. The work, the knowledge, the mysteries… it’s all I want to think about right now.” 

She looked up at the tiny picture of Tommy that sat on the corner of her screen, right next to a photo of the whole team together a week after Jack had come back. They stood outside the water tower with laughter on their faces. Tosh loved that. She stood next to Owen, nestled in his arm and she could still feel the closeness now. She shut down that thought. It wasn’t a good idea to dwell on it. Or Tommy. Or having a social life after the last few disastrous encounters with people outside the team. 

“Okay,” Jack replied, giving her a gentle smile. “I just thought I’d say something. You’re one of the first here and last to leave.”

“I like working late, especially when it’s quiet,” Tosh said. “It gives me time to-” she cut off as a program popped up with a map of Cardiff and a red alert encircling the Plass, vibrating and pulsing with an alarm. 

“What’s that?” Jack stepped away from the desk and moved behind Toshiko. “Is it the Rift?”

Tosh examined the reading some more and brought up another program to analyze it. “If it is, it’s not presenting like the other readings. This one’s different. Whatever it is, happened around here. Give me a moment. I’ll pull up the CCTV.” 

Within a few minutes, she had accessed one of the water tower’s hidden cameras. The CCTV showed the Plass around 11pm. It was pretty quiet and there was no one about. Minute after minute passed and nothing happened. Everything looked normal and the readings seemed to have calmed down. 

“I don’t see anything,” Jack mused. 

“Maybe it’s a glitch,” Tosh suggested. 

Out of nowhere a flash cut across the footage and a blonde woman appeared in the Plass dressed in a dark blue jacket and dark jeans. She was clutching a green backpack with both hands. She turned around and leaned against the pillar, sliding down it slowly. She was young, maybe early twenties if not younger and her features were contorted in distress. Tosh watched her slump to the floor and for a moment she was too moved by the terrible sight to say anything else. 

“Zoom in,” Jack’s voice had gone very tight. 

Tosh zoomed in even closer so that the woman appeared in greater detail. She was sobbing and looking at her phone. She didn’t seem at all bewildered about her surroundings at all. There was no confusion or reaction to the fact that she’s just appeared somewhere else. Tosh wondered if she had meant to come here, if she had known that she would have been brought somewhere. Or maybe she was just too distressed and hadn’t processed it. Either way, watching it was difficult. 

“I’ve never seen the Rift bring anyone like that before,” Tosh remarked. 

Jack had brought a hand to his mouth, clutching it thoughtfully. When Tosh looked closer at him, she could have sworn she saw tears there. “Oh my god,” he whispered. “It’s her. It’s really her.”

“Who is she?” Tosh asked. “You know her,”

Jack lowered his hand and his face broke into a smile. “She’s an old friend. She was… trapped somewhere. I thought I’d never see her again.”

“Where was she trapped?” Tosh wondered aloud. 

Jack gave her a bemused smile. “Parallel universe.”

“What?!” Tosh turned so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. “You’re serious.”

“Yep,” Jack said. “My friend - you know, the Doctor - told me.”

Tosh turned back towards the screen. Months ago, when Jack had returned to the team, he had told them a little about the Doctor and their past together. He filled in some unknowns about the situation with the Prime Minister and the year that never was. Honestly, a lot of what Jack said was hard to get one’s head around at the best of times but that conversation had been right up there. Except Tosh had met someone called the Doctor and he was considered a big deal to UNIT. So that had come out as well at the time. 

“So that begs the question how she got back,” Tosh said. She examined the time on the screen. “This was yesterday morning.” She told Jack who straightened up. 

“See if you can run a facial recognition trace on her, see where she went after this,” Jack said with a gentle touch on her shoulder. “I’m going to call the Doctor. Rose is a mutual friend. He’ll want to know she’s back.”

Tosh swiftly got to work on the software.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything inside Jack seemed to be fizzing inside. 

He grabbed his mobile and dialled the number Martha had given him. He moved around the base in energetic strides, his free hand clenching and unclenching. He grinned from ear to ear as the phone began to ring. Down into the medical bay he went, circling the room then jogging back up the stairs and back into the lounge area. Even now he felt too restless and ecstatic to slow down. He took the staircase up to the higher level in quick strides until he reached his office. He threw open the door as the phone continued to ring. 

“Come on, Doc,” the former time agent whispered. 

While it was true he hadn’t known Rose for a long time, he’d shared many an adventure with her and there had always been a fun, bubbly kind of energy between the three of them during their travels. They’d shared laughs, frights and dangerous adventures. That kind of stuff bonded you in a way that chats over cups of tea just didn’t. Of course he’d shamelessly flirted with both of them but really their friendship had come at a time when he didn’t actually have many friends and he’d forgotten how to trust people. Rose had shone her brilliant light on him and helped him to get some of himself back. Not many people could claim to do that for him.

“Hello?” The doctor’s voice cut through Jack’s thoughts. He sounded hurried as though he was out of breath. “Martha?”

“Nope,” Jack enunciated the p and laughed. 

“Jack? What is it? What’s wrong? Why are you calling me?” The doctor’s voice went from breathless to sharply serious in one second. That was impressive. Jack felt a pang of envy wondering what kind of adventure had had the Doctor rushing around the TARDIS. Those were the days, Jack thought to himself, but he had his own adventures here. Still, he couldn’t help feeling a tad narked that the Doctor seemed so irked by taking a call from him. Or I’ve just caught him in the middle of a life and death chase, Jack reasoned to himself. 

“Nothing’s wrong” Jack assured him, “but I have news I think you’re going to want to hear.”

There was a pause before the Doctor spoke again. “Knowing you, I’m not sure I like the sound of that, Jack.” He sounded more together now and there were no audibly raging monsters or shouting in the background so Jack assumed the time lord was safe for now.

“Rude.”

“That’s me, rude and not ginger…” Jack thought he heard the doctor’s voice break a little at the end. “So what’s up?” he asked in that kind of false breezy tone that Jack recognized well. It was the same tone he used with his team after a difficult night’s sleep or when his memories plagued him. It was a useful voice for holding people away from you long enough to get your head together.

“Rose is back.” Jack declared, grinning even wider. 

_“What?!”_

“One of my team just looked into a strange reading from yesterday morning, in the super early hours. When we pulled the CCTV footage, someone appeared out of nowhere in the Plass. Doctor, it was Rose.” Silence met his words. Despite his own impatience, Jack held off from speaking, giving the Doctor time to process. Another minute or two passed and Jack started to wonder if the line was still connected or no. 

“That’s impossible,” the Doctor said. 

“Our CCTV footage doesn’t lie. I’ve seen her.” Jack said. “So unless Rose has a doppelganger we don’t know about-”

“Show me,” the Doctor said. “I’ll be there in…” he trailed off. “What’s the date?”

Jack’s grin widened. “17th May, 8:40am,” he told him. 

“Be there in a minute,” the Doctor told him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the TARDIS appeared inside the base, the rest of the team had arrived and fresh drinks had been made. Jack had filled the rest of them in on the situation while Tosh had been taking notes on where the facial recognition had clearly picked up Rose. Owen had called up the hospital and asked about any blondes named Rose Tyler being admitted. So far none. Gwen had contacted her friends in the police force and circulated a picture of Rose. Once again, so far nothing. Ianto had called a number of Tylers in both Cardiff and London and that had come to nothing as well. 

Jack, meanwhile, had been pacing around upstairs muttering about incompetent time lords who couldn’t get anywhere on time. Tosh was silently glad that she had a task that was occupying her more so it demanded more focus. Jack sounded like he was working up to be in a bad mood if this Doctor was any later in arriving.

The whooshing sound of the time machine’s arrival disrupted everyone’s chatter. Gwen and Ianto moved to hover near the stairs while Owen lounged back on the sofa, arms stretched out behind him. Toshiko looked over at the ship, straightening up to get a better look. Jack took the staircase three steps at a time and stopped in front of Gwen and Ianto as he watched the TARDIS appear by the door. 

The Doctor appeared in the doorway and gave the place a speculative look around then quickly shut the door after himself. “So this is Torchwood Cardiff,” he mused with an intrigued sniff. He then looked back up at the team. “Captain,” he nodded at an infuriated looking Jack as he jogged up the steps to him. 

“I’m not sure your people deserve the title Time Lords if your timekeeping is anything to go by.” Jack fumed, arms folded now. “Seriously, doctor, what the hell?”

“What?” the Doctor protested. “I’ll have you know I am-” he looked down at the watch Jack instantly shoved in his face, “over two hours late. Ooops. My bad. It’s a very thin adjustment between minutes and seconds,” he explained. “Ah well, I’m here now. Let me see the footage.”

“Can’t you go back and get here earlier?” Owen asked from the sofa. “Get it right?”

“Nah, can’t cross my own personal timeline,” the Doctor said hurriedly as Jack led him over towards Tosh’s desk. “It just messes the timeline up. So do a lot of things actually. Being careless with the timeline is not good. Not doing that again… well not for a while anyway. I’ve had enough of Reapers to last a lifetime. Still, I suppose it won’t be the last time.” The Doctor stopped talking and shrugged once. “But yeah, not a good idea.”

“Of course,” Owen muttered dryly with a roll of his eyes. “Silly me. It’s obvious really isn’t it?”

“Doctor, this is Toshiko Sato, our technician.” Jack said, ignoring Owen, as Tosh looked up at the approaching time lord who instantly brightened upon seeing her. 

“It’s you! Hello again! Long time no see! Well, longer time for me anyway. What’s it been, a few years?”

Toshiko’s brow furrowed and she blinked rapidly. “We’ve never met…” She pointed out, her voice trailing off while quickly shooting Jack an uncertain look. But he was looking just as surprised as she was, looking between the two of them, on the verge of speaking but the Doctor got in there first.

“No, no we have. A long time ago. Well, the three years for you but it was longer for me,” the Doctor said. “But I had a different appearance then. Short hair, leather jacket, Northern accent. We looked at that fake space pig together.”

Tosh’s breath hitched and her voice shot up a few octaves. “That was you?!”

The Doctor grinned down at her. “Hello!”

“B-but how?” Tosh demanded. “How is that possible? Are you a shape changer? How can you change your appearance so much? How does it work?” She could see Jack beginning to laugh quietly beside the Doctor but she ignored him, 

“Typical Tosh, always getting to the boring bits,” Owen teased from the back of the room. 

“Oi!” The Doctor shot Owen an outraged look. “There’s no need for that.” He turned to Tosh with a smile. “I knew I liked you. Always asking good questions,” he said. “Although do you mind if we pause that for now? My friend’s out there and I really need to find her.”

“Of course!” Tosh smiled back at him and immediately turned to the program she was running. Professionalism settled over her like a comfortable blanket once more. “So I’ve used facial recognition software per Jack’s request and followed the CCTV as much as possible.” She skimmed the footage back to the moment of the girl’s arrival. She played it and watched as the Doctor pulled up a chair and stared at the screen. 

Some of the colour seemed to disappear from his face. His posture seemed to slump and he leaned in for a closer look. Tosh zoomed in the footage for him, enough for them to see the details of Rose’s face as she huddled against the pillar crying and holding onto her bag. When Tosh looked back at the Doctor, she saw that a great sadness was slowly pouring into his expression. His mouth went slack and his eyes remained fixed on Rose’s miserable figure. He looked like he was deflating in slow motion. All that energy he’d just expressed seemed to be sucked out of him. 

“It’s really her,” the Doctor whispered. “She’s back.”

Jack nodded. “I wouldn’t have called you if the picture had been grainy,” he assured his friend with a hand on his shoulder. “I would have checked.”

“It must have been an anomaly,” the Doctor whispered, in a daze. “She must have found a crack between universes somehow.” He reached out to touch the screen. “But why’s she crying so much?” he asked. “That is real- I mean severe distress. Something’s happened.”

“Maybe she realised she can’t get back to her family. Maybe it’s sinking in,” Jack suggested. 

“Maybe,” the Doctor said, “but she would have already known that. She’s had years for that to sink in.”

“Some things don’t sink in until they’ve happened,” Ianto spoke from behind them all. 

The Doctor continued to stare at Rose. “Rose,” he whispered. His gaze dropped to the time on the footage. “Wait this is yesterday morning,” he said. “You said today was the 17th. This is the 16th. Why didn’t you call me before?” he turned his face up to Jack. 

“No one was monitoring the equipment overnight.” Jack explained. “Tosh usually handles that - checking for unusual readings. But she was away until this morning.”

“The reading wouldn’t have presented in a way to alarm any of the others either,” Tosh informed the Doctor. “It could have been mistaken for one of my programs running in sleep mode. This wasn’t Rift activity which is what the more ostentatious alarms are for. But I checked out the reading this morning.”

The Doctor smiled weakly at her. “Straight away.”

“That’s my job.”

His smile grew. “Toshiko Sato, I like you.” He informed her before looking back at the screen. “Can you follow her, footage wise?”

“Yes, I’ve been working on doing that.” She brought up various window showing footage of wandering around Cardiff in the early hours. “After stopping by a newsagents the next footage I have of her is at the train station. She took a train to London.” She then brought up footage of Rose from London Euston station.

“Of course,” the Doctor murmured. “She would want to go home. That’s where she’ll be. The Powell Estate.” He touched Tosh’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he told her. 

“No problem.” She answered him. “Good luck. I hope you find her.”

“Me too,” the Doctor smiled before turning to Jack. “Ready for another trip?” he asked. 

Jack laughed a little. “Do you even have to ask?” He then looked around at the rest of the bewildered team and his smile dipped. “I will be back.” He assured them.

“You should go and find your friend,” Gwen said stepping forward. As she did, the Doctor looked at her and then stepped back. 

“Whoa, that’s a blast from the past. Blimey!” he declared, staring at Gwen.

Gwen looked around with growing confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Jack scoffed. “Oh now you’ve met Gwen Cooper already too?”

“No, not her specifically although wow, similar name. What a coincidence.” The Doctor said. “Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?”

Gwen still looked bewildered but nodded. “Yeah it dates back all the way to the 1800s. We got a bit scattered around Wales over the years,” she said. “Oh that reminds me!” she suddenly said, looking around at her colleagues. ”I actually found out that some great distant cousin of mine actually died in some strange circumstances back in 1869. Set an undertaker’s on fire or something.”

Owen lifted one eyebrow. “Bit of a random thing to do. Bit sick, was she?”

“Oi!” the Doctor pointed at Owen just as Gwen was turning to argue with him. “You weren’t there. You don’t know what Gwyneth had to do. She saved the world in ways you wouldn’t even have known about,” he added, his expression hardening. “So have a bit of respect.” He turned away from a disbelieving Owen back to Gwen. “She really did,” he told her. “She lived so close to the Rift that she could hear these aliens called the Gelth calling for help.”

“The Gelth?” Gwen repeated. “What are the Gelth?”

“Spirits. Or at least that’s what they were when they spoke to Gwyneth. She wanted to open the Rift and bring them through. They said they were few in number, their population decimated by wars beyond this world. They wanted to inhabit the bodies of the dead for themselves.”

Owen rose up from the sofa. “Excuse me?” he asked. “And you don’t think that’s sick or disrespectful.” He stepped up next to Gwen. “Because I fucking think so.”

Gwen frowned too. “That doesn’t seem right.” She said in a quiet, disturbed tone. “Using other people’s bodies like that. What were their loved ones meant to think? Seeing their brother or mother wandering around and not recognising them. It would be like some cruel miracle. That’s just not right.”

“It’s not ideal but it’s not all that different to agreeing to donate your organs is it?” the Doctor pointed out. “Besides I would have taken them somewhere else, away from the loved ones,” he continued. 

“Oh well that’s all right then,” Owen’s voice dripped with sarcasm, shaking his head. “That’s perfectly fine. You go right ahead then. Honestly!” Owen fumed. ”What a ludicrous idea.”

“I suppose the logic would be that the bodies are just lying there literally turning to dust,” said Ianto, in a careful tone. He ignored the scowl Owen threw him. He frowned as he continued. “But even so, I can’t imagine doing anything like that. That actually makes me feel a little bit sick.”

“You’ve obviously got a stronger stomach than me,” Owen retorted, “because I feel a lot sick.”

“It was a different time with different ideas.” The Doctor remarked brusquely. “ Besides, you’re missing the point. Gwyneth wanted to help the Gelth. So we opened the Rift, using Gwyneth herself. Her connection to it acted as a bridge. But when the Gelth came through, they were not few in number at all. Nor were they as innocent as Gwyneth believed. As soon as they came through, they used the corpses to try and kill us. They killed Gwyneth’s employer, Mr Sneed the undertaker.”

“So it’s a family job, working alongside death,” Owen quipped. 

“Oh piss off Owen.” Gwen growled. She folded her arms. “What happened? How did you stop them?”

The Doctor’s expression turned grave. “Well Charles Dickens came in handy. He worked out that turning up the gas kept the creatures at bay and-”

“Hang on, hang on!” Owen protested. “Are you having a laugh? Charles Dickens - the Charles Dickens - helped you deal with spirit creatures. For real. I don’t suppose it was Christmas as well.”

“Christmas eve actually,” the Doctor answered. 

“Oh come off it.” Owen said. “There’s no way that actually happens.”

“You underestimate the kind of crazy luck this man has,” Jack laughed. “He doesn’t need to make anything up. His whole life is just bonkers.”

“Going back to the story,” Gwen said keenly, stepping towards the doctor. “How did you stop them? What happened to Gwyneth? Did they kill her?” She brought a fist up to her mouth as though she didn’t actually want an answer to the question after all. Her eyes were wide and wary. 

The Doctor swallowed before he spoke. “Dickens plan gave everyone a brief reprieve from the Gelth and the room was flooded with gas. However, the bridge needed to be broken to stop them and by that point they had control of the bridge. The only person who could make a difference was Gwyneth and… there was only one way out. She knew what had to be done. She waited until we’d left the building and lit a match.”

“Oh god,” Tosh covered her mouth. “She killed herself to close the bridge.”

“It worked. The Gelth were gone along with Gwyneth. Since then Torchwood found out about the Rift and so here you guys are.” The Doctor explained. He looked to Gwen. “She looked exactly like you. She was a sweet girl who deserved better.” He looked over to Owen who had bowed his head. “Gwyneth saved the world,” he added.

Owen, to his credit, looked slightly abashed. “Agreed. She sounds like a hero.”

“She was just an ordinary girl making a terrible but necessary call,” the Doctor said. “I never expected to see someone look so much like her.”

A short silence followed for a minute or two, as if they were all taking a moment to think about Gwyneth. About an ordinary girl who had faced a dangerous situation and made the world a safer place for billions of people. About someone who wouldn’t be written about in history books but would just disappear. 

“Well we may as well finish the introductions,” Jack said with a growing smile. “Gwen here’s our liason with the police and Owen,” he said with a gesture towards Owen, “is our-”

“Dr Owen Harper,” Owen said stiffly. “I’m the resident medic around here.”

“You’re a doctor?” the time lord enquired, both brows shooting up at once. 

“Yes and a bloody good one too.” Owen shot back, hands on his hips, thumbs hooking in his belt loops. 

“Huh,” the Doctor mused. “Okay then. Well, I would not have called that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Owen challenged. 

“Oh well first of all, your bedside manner’s a bit rubbish and by that I mean a lot rubbish,” the Doctor answered, his tone darkening with annoyance. Around him, Ianto and Gwen snickered quietly as Owen fumed. 

“I’m not in the business of sugarcoating anything,” Owen insisted. “I just tell people what they need to know,” he said. 

“Yeah and the rest,” Tosh remarked. Owen glowered at her. 

She shrugged in response. “You’re an ass Owen. Let’s not play pretend,” she said as she swiveled her chair back to face her computer screen. 

“You know what, Tosh? I could return fire here but then we’d be here all day so,” Owen shrugged and pulled a face. 

“You know, there is something to be said for having a doctor you don’t immediately want to punch in the face,” the Doctor retorted. “You might want to think on that the next time you think about opening that gob of yours,” he warned. His tone then shifted into lightness and he smirked a bit at Owen. “Just a thought.”

“All right, all right,” Jack intervened before Owen could argue back against the Doctor, “that’s enough,” he told him. “Anyway that just leaves Ianto Jones,” he gestured towards where Ianto was waiting. Ianto stepped forward with a small smile, nodding his head towards the Doctor. 

“Aka the boyfriend,” Owen taunted. 

Ianto paid no attention to the Owen but the Doctor brightened and offered his hand immediately. “Good to meet you, Ianto. Wow, that’s a cracking name isn’t it?” he rambled. “Good, solid name that,” he added. “Although I must warn you, your boyfriend is a handful.”

“Hey!” Jack protested. 

“You are a handful,” Owen told him.

Ianto smiled more. “I’m quite aware. I’m willing to take the risk though.” He told the Doctor though his eyes shifted to look at Jack. 

“Good for you,” the Doctor told him. “He might be a handful but he’s not too bad as far as humans go,” he said. He began to smile and then it faltered. “Speaking of humans, we should really go and find Rose,” he said, turning towards Jack as he spoke. 

“Yes we should,” the captain agreed. “You’re the one with the TARDIS so lead the way.”

The Doctor began to turn away then spun around again so he was looking at the team. “It was great to meet you guys. We’ll be back once we’ve got Rose,” he told them. His gaze jumped to meet Tosh’s. “I will come back and answer those questions for you, Tosh,” he told her with a smile. 

“I’ll hold you to that,” Tosh smiled as she rose from her seat. 

“I bet you will!” the Doctor laughed before jumping down the steps and hurrying into the blue police box that had appeared by the doorway. Jack gave them all a smile before following him inside. Seconds later, that great whooshing and weezing sound filled the air and the strange ship began to dematerialize. 

“Good luck!” Gwen called after them

“Tenner says they’re a week late,” Owen remarked. 

“Two days,” Gwen said after consideration. 

”Five days,” Ianto chipped in. 

Owen looked back at Tosh who folded her arms. “You gonna throw your hat in the ring Tosh or is this a bit too adventurous for you?”

Tosh fixed Owen with an exasperated look. “Go on the. I say today. One of us should bet in their favour.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the Powell estate, Nyala was touching up the bottom of her sister’s mural. She gently topped up the paint on the wheels of the skateboards. She sat back on her heels and examined the display of painted roses and skateboards. 

The teenager had mixed feelings about the mural now that one of the people it was dedicated too turned out to be alive after all. Still, she supposed Shareen’s friendship with Rose was something to be mourned too. Rose was never going to have that again. She’d lost Shareen too only she d never known it. Nyala sighed to herself, wondering if she’d done the right thing in telling Rose. Would the older girl have been happier still believing that Shareen was alive? Maybe but it wouldn’t have lasted. Sooner or later, Rose would have come round asking to see Shareen or she would have wondered why Shareen wasn’t texting her. Still the possibility of sparing someone that terrible truth was a nice idea in principle. 

Leaning in again, she touched up the pink on each of the roses. She could have asked Rose what she thought of the mural but then again Rose seemed like she had a lot on her mind right now. Nyala began to recap each of the spray bottles. 

Out of nowhere a rushing sound, like a gale, swept through the estate. Nyala tucked her hood over her head, bracing herself for a great wind to sweep past her. But instead she felt only a small breeze ripple against her. The wind must be blowing in a different direction, she supposed and began to pick up her spray paints to take home. As she did, there came a strange kind of whistling sound that accompanied the wind. As the noise grew in volume, Nyala froze. There was something really, really familiar about that noise. But where she’d heard it before, she wasn’t sure. It continued to screech out over the Powell estate. Nyala shook herself out of her daze and got to her feet. What the _hell_ was it? That was a very strange wind if it was that at all. Maybe it was a car on its last legs or someone with very dodgy music equipment.

The sound died off and Nyala was glad for it grated on her eardrums. Second later, she heard voices coming from across the estate. Loud voices. Probably looking for the source of the sound. P _robably woke someone from their afternoon nap_ , she mused with a smile as she headed towards the stairs ready to head home. _Well they’ll be soon sorry they were so flipping noisy._

“ROSE!” The shout cut across the estate, slicing through Nyala who almost dropped one of her cans in surprise. Nyala didn’t recognise the voice but she could hear an American accent. “ROSE!” the man shouted again. 

_Is he looking for Rose Tyler?_ Nyala wondered as she moved away from the stairs and edged closer towards the open yard of the Powell Estate. _What do they want with her?_ She moved close to the wall, staying in the shadows. Anxiety crawled its way through her stomach, into her very nerves. 

“Rose!” Another voice shouted, this one in an English accent. “Rose, where are you? Rose!”

Something about these two voices unsettled Nyala as she peered out into the yard where two men were entering the estate. Her pulse raced and a knot began to thread itself into her stomach, growing larger and larger by the second. 

One of the men seemed to be wearing period dress and World War II period at that - Nyala remembered studying the clothing in history class. He even had the braces. Now that was old-fashioned. As he moved closer towards Nyala’s hiding place, she got a good look at him. He was classically handsome although much older than her, she thought as she took him in. He had to be at least mid-thirties. Weirdly the old-style fashion seemed to suit him. Especially that coat. He was definitely working that coat. But still the obvious age of him compared to Rose unsettled Nyala even more. _Who exactly are you involved with, Rose?_

His companion had a somewhat younger look about him. Messy brown hair and skinny, very skinny. The next thing Nyala noticed was that, like his associate, he was wearing a really long brown coat. She wondered if Rose had developed a taste for men in long coats or something. He wore a pin striped suit… with red converse. What the actual hell? Did he dress in the dark or something? Although, it did kind of work for him. _Not the kind of outfit I’d have put together but you make it work. Now, who exactly are you both?_

“Rose!” Both men shouted in unison. 

Nyala cringed. They were going to make some trouble with the neighbours if they didn’t stop shouting. She looked back towards the stairs. She could and probably should just leave them to it. But there was something inside her that felt really uncomfortable around these two. Especially the man in the wartime getup. She couldn’t explain why but something about him just seemed _wrong_. And if there was something dodgy about him then she didn’t want him going after Rose, or his mate. Rose had not long left the estate. If these guys got lucky and picked the right direction, they might catch up to her. 

Instinct moved Nyala out of the shadows. _What the hell?_ She thought to herself. She could feel her heart pounding away like war drums in her chest. “Who are you looking for?” she called out to the two men who both whirled around to face her. She stopped after a few steps, fingers tightening on the cans. 

The American smiled widely on seeing her, his gaze dropping to the paint cans briefly. “Working on a masterpiece eh?”

“A memorial,” Nyala kept her tone cool. 

“Right, sorry,” the man’s expression turned a little more serious, “Well we’re sorry to bother you but we’re looking for Rose Tyler. She’s an old friend of ours. We go way back, don’t we?” he asked his friend who nodded although he looked somewhat harried and concerned. That didn’t sit all that well with Nyala. 

_Is she though?_ She wondered to herself. _An old friend I don’t recognise. I don’t think so._ She looked towards the other man who stepped forward with all the energy of a hyperactive puppy. His hands moved into his pockets and Nyala felt a jolt of nervousness in her chest despite the man’s obvious attempt to be casual.

“We heard that she’s come home.” He said with a brief flicker of a smile. “Is she around? Do you know her?” 

Nyala bristled. “Of course I know her.” she explained. “Look, I really don’t know who you are but Rose hasn’t mentioned you,” she pointed out. “You’re basically strangers. So before I tell you anything, you need to tell me something. Who are you, exactly?” she asked. 

The American began to smile a little. “Good call, looking out for your friend,” he said. He placed a hand on his chest. “I’m Jack Harkness,” he said offering his hand. 

Nyala shook it very cautiously. “I’m Nyala.”

His associate also held out his hand. “I’m the Doctor. Nice to meet you.”

“The… Doctor?” Nyala repeated. “That’s your name?”

“Yeah,” the man smiled brightly as if she had paid him a massive compliment. “Bit different I know but I like to stand out.”

 _The Doctor sounds like a gangland name for a drug pusher_ , Nyala pondered privately. No one normal had a name like that. That kind of title as a name just sounded dodgy and considering Rose hadn’t mentioned these guys, it was sounded all the worse. She tried to stop herself panicking internally and kept her cool.

“Right,” she said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Look, Rose is really popular around here. She was best friends with my sister,” she added.

The man in the suit went still, his eyes fixed on hers. “Shareen?” he asked. “You’re Shareen’s sister?”

Nyala felt sick. How could these two possibly know about Shareen? Unless Rose had told them something about her. But why would she tell them? She tried to keep her expression guarded. “Yeah.”

“Do you know if she’s seen Rose?” he asked. 

There was an urgency in his eyes that Nyala didn’t like, as if he was chasing Rose up for something. _Is it money? Rose, what have you been involved in? Is this the real reason why you didn’t want to stay over at ours? You thought these would be coming after you? Are you in danger?_ Taking careful breaths, she kept her face neutral once more. “My sister died a while ago,” she told the men.

“Oh…” The suited man faltered. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” His face completely fell and for a moment his gaze held an unbelievable amount of sadness. 

It startled her a bit, as though he’d somehow managed to mirror the depth of her grief in just one look. But she pushed that thought away and reinforced her resolve. “Don’t worry about it,” Nyala tried to keep her voice strong. “Anyway, Rose was here but she left hours ago,” she lied. 

“Did she happen to mention where she was going?” the American asked Nyala, taking a step closer. She resisted the urge to step back from him. Don’t show fear.

“No,” Nyala said. “She just said she had something to sort. Well,” she pretended to think, “she did make out she was leaving London,” she lied again. 

The man smiled thinly. “Doesn’t really narrow it down,” he muttered, giving his companion a suppressed smile. He then reached into his pocket. “Look,” he began, “just in case she comes back, can you give her my number?” he asked. He held out a business card. Nyala moved a paint can into the crook of her arm and then took the card from him carefully. “Thank you,” he told her. 

“If she gets in touch, can you tell her we called by?” the Doctor questioned. For a moment Nyala saw another flash of urgency in his eyes, mingled with anxiety. “It’s really important,” he added with heavy emphasis. 

Nyala nodded emphatically. “Yeah I will.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. “Okay, good,” he told her. He turned to Jack. “Come on then. We’ll try somewhere else.”

“Maybe she’s gone into the city,” Jack suggested. 

The two of them headed back the way they’d come, out of the estate. Nyala watched them until they passed the final tower block. She then hurried to the stairwell and jogged up the stairs, flight after flight until she reached her floor. By the time she got to her flat’s doorway, she could feel herself shaking slightly. _Come on, get it together,_ she coaxed herself. _You’re safe. They’re gone._

After a few reassuring breaths, she unlocked the door and stepped into the, thankfully empty, flat. She took the spray paints to her room and hid them under her bed. Sinking down onto the bed, she immediately opened up a conversation window with Rose on Skype. _Please be online._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was over an hour before Rose finally messaged her back.

Rose: Hey. A little early to check up on me.  
Nyala: Where have you been?  
Rose: Had to go into town. Got a new charger and a power bank now. So I’ll be around more.  
Nyala: Good.   
Rose: It means a lot you worrying but I will be fine.  
Nyala: I know.  
Nyala: By the way, two dodgy men just turned up on the estate looking for you.  
Rose: Seriously?   
Rose: What did they look like?  
Nyala: A lot older than us, I guess. Kinda cute when they weren’t creeping me the hell out.  
Rose: What did they want?  
Nyala: They wanted to know where you were.   
Nyala: They made out like it was all casual but they seemed pretty intense.   
Rose: How?  
Nyala: I dunno.   
Nyala: Something seemed off about them.  
Rose: Gut feeling?  
Nyala: Yeah.   
Rose: Are you okay?  
Nyala: Yeah I’m fine.   
Nyala: I just threw them off the scent.   
Rose: Thank you.   
Nyala: I mean, I do feel a bit shaky. But yeah, I’m okay.  
Rose: I don’t blame you. I’m so sorry.  
Nyala: It’s not your fault.   
Nyala: Though I have to ask.   
Nyala: Do you owe them money?  
Rose: No.   
Nyala: Are you in any trouble?   
Rose: No.   
Rose: But I know someone who might be.   
Rose: So it might be to do with them.  
Nyala: Is this your friend?  
Rose: Yeah.  
Rose: But don’t worry. I’ll deal with them.  
Nyala: I’m no expert but maybe don’t seek those guys out.  
Rose: I’ll be careful.  
Nyala: My heart would appreciate that very much.   
Rose: This is really tough on you. I’m sorry.  
Nyala: Tough on me.   
Nyala: You’re the one living this crazy cryptic life.  
Nyala: Where are you?  
Rose: One of those internet cafes.   
Rose: I’ve just gotta chase a lead up with my friend.   
Nyala: Sounds vague and mysterious  
Rose: It’s a really boring story.  
Nyala: I’d still love to hear it more time.   
Rose: Maybe another time. I can’t stay long.  
Nyala: You know this isn’t reassuring in the least.   
Rose: I promise you I’m not in trouble.   
Rose: And I’m not fobbing you off.  
Nyala: lol you wouldn’t dare Tyler  
Rose: Damn straight. Shareen would find a way to get me back.  
Nyala: You know it.  
Nyala: Still, be careful Rose.  
Rose: I will.   
Rose: I still have a few minutes.   
Rose: Don’t suppose you’ve got anything interesting to tell me about your life?  
Rose: Any cute boys on the horizon?  
Nyala: I think that’s a conversation for another time.   
Rose: NOW who’s being vague and mysterious?  
Nyala: Revenge is mine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several hours later, Rose sat in a bus station. 

Her mind kept racing back to her conversation with Nyala. Even now, other people were getting dragged into her problems. Those dodgy men had been near Nyala all because of Rose. They could have done anything to her and it would have been Rose’s fault. She didn’t want to imagine what Shareen would say if she had known Rose had inadvertently put her sister in danger. Rose’s stomach swam with that discomforting thought. It seemed she caused trouble or let people down in ways she didn’t even know about now. She wished she could break that habit.

Her feet ached from hours of wandering around, trying to get lost in the crowd. She didn’t know how many other people might be following her to try and get to the Doctor but she was going to make it as hard as possible for them. Decently sure that she had well and truly thrown anyone off her scent, she got out her phone and brought up Facebook. She typed a different name into the search bar. Elton Pope. 

It had been a long time since she’d thought about Elton. Her mother had talked to her about him a couple of years ago in the parallel world. She’d had a few and had reminisced about the time that she’d formed that friendship with Elton and how, despite what went down and from what Rose found out later, he was a “nice boy”. Certainly Rose had forgiven him once she realised why he had been chasing the Doctor and seeing him having lost nearly all his friends to that Abzorbaloff creature. The Doctor telling him about his mother had seemed to put an end to the chapter of Rose knowing him. 

Just like many other chapters had been closed. Harriet Jones being another. 

Before she could dwell on that and, to her relief, her friendship request was instantly accepted and so she sent a quick message to his inbox. 

_Hi Elton_   
_I know it’s been a long time since we met. I was wondering if you had seen or heard anything from the doctor lately. I need to get in touch with him. Hope things are good with you._

A few minutes later, her inbox showed a new message from Elton. 

_Hi Rose_   
_I thought you were travelling with the Doctor. Did something happen? I’m not into that sort of thing anymore. I’m really sorry but I haven’t heard anything personally. Although I do know someone who knew the Doctor too but I don’t think she’s heard from him recently either. She’s one of my new neighbours since we moved to Bannerman Road. Lovely lady. Sarah Jane Smith. I’m glad you got in touch though. I hope things are okay with you otherwise._

Rose exhaled sharply and hastily typed another message. All the while, her brain was a mash of excitement and hope. Sarah Jane was more likely than most to hear from the Doctor or know some way of possibly contacting him. That lead was better than nothing. She quickly sent her new message. 

_I was but some really messed up stuff happened. Did you hear about the Battle of Canary Wharf?_ That level of messed up. Anyway, wow what a small world! I actually know Sarah Jane. I met her a couple of years ago. She’s great. Do you have her number? 

There was a long pause after that message and Rose felt more antsy the more seconds that passed. Did he not want to give her Sarah Jane’s number? Was he going to ask her first or was he just weirded out? Rose drummed her fingers against her knee in order to channel some of the restless energy. 

A few more minutes passed before Elton sent her a message, this time with a single phone number and an address. It was about an hour or so away. Plenty of distance from the Powell Estate and wherever those dodgy men were. She thanked Elton and pocketed her phone. 

It was time to pay Sarah Jane a visit. 


End file.
